Hair coloring catastrophe

NOTE: No pictures will be included in this post for your own safety!

Wes and I were going out to dinner with friends Saturday night. I had been working outside on the house all day and knew I needed to get inside and attempt to look half-way decent for my double date.

You see, this was not a normal weekend night for us. Normally we are so exhausted from working on the house all day that neither of us feel like "going out". If we are feeling unusually frisky, we might go eat at the Mexican food restaurant in town. I like going there because we don't really know anyone so I can go in with wet hair and no make-up on. Plus, they have really good cheese dip!

So needless to say, I knew I had to at least put on make-up and wash that gray right outta my hair and if time allowed, scrape the white paint off of my fingernails.

Wes went to go wash the suburban and I started coloring my hair (I told you this was a big deal for us). I knew I had to "process" so off I went to start working on my fingernails.

All of a sudden, the power went out. Not a big deal if you have city water but when you have a well that is run off of electricity, it is a HUGE problem. NO electricity = NO water! I started to panic.

How was I going to rinse the color off my hair?

My medium-brown hair might be jet black if the power doesn't come back on soon.

What if my hair falls out? AGHHHHHH, WHAT IF MY HAIR FALLS OUT!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I am in a full blown panic now. I ran downstairs and yell to the kids, "How will I wash my hair color out?" They all just looked at me and wondered how they were going to play Webkinz with the power out.

"My hair is going to fall out!", I yelled as I ran outside...INTO the rain!

I was really panicking now. I have several emotional scars from some really bad hair cuts so the thought of possibly losing my hair due to a power outage was a serious fear for me. AND running out into the rain seemed like a rational move at the moment.

There I was~ bent over with my head down AND no shirt on using the rain water to rinse my hair when the kids came out (with rain coats on) to see what I was doing out in the rain. They came around the corner to see me half naked with brown hair color running down my face as I was screaming " My eyes are burning!"

I am pretty certain at least one of them will have nightmares from this.

Madison, my oldest and most responsible child, leaped into action. She started trying to help me rinse my hair with the rain water and yelling for the other kids to get the shampoo.

Moments later the rain stopped and I still had a lot of color and shampoo dripping from my head. What was I going to do? I was desperate.

Wait, we have dogs and dogs have water bowls, right? "Madison, hurry and go get Bella's water bowl."

I had to stand there as she carefully poured the dirty, dog-drooled-water over my head. I mentioned I was desperate, right?

Madison ran and called Wes at the car wash and asked him to bring home a gallon of water from the store. He had the nerve to tell her he was trying to windex the windows so she said, "Daddy, we are pouring dog water over mommy's head. The windows can wait!"

His suggestion was for me to come to the car wash and he would spray me with the water hose. Needless to say, I wasn't going to the car wash and letting him spray me with a water hose that shoots water at 2oo mph. I wouldn't have any hair left for sure!

To top it all off, a horse fly lands on my stomach. This causes me to FREAK OUT! I mean, push my own child in front of a charging bull FREAK OUT!

I started running around the yard flailing my arms and kicking my legs all the way into the house and didn't stop until I found refuge in the bath tub where Wes finally found me (rocking back and forth in a fetal position). He had arrived with 2 gallons of spring water.

I am happy to report that I survived and:

I still have hair

The horsefly did bite me but I am recovering

I have started the kids in therapy

Gee, I think I will just stay in and eat a sandwich next weekend!

Kennedy~ the health NUT

Kennedy~ My girlie-girl.

She loves pink.

She is my fourth child... the middle child of the triplets.

She is her own person. She can't be easily persuaded or pushed around. She is the most like her father.

She is funny. She rolls her eyes at you when you try and trick her.

She always yells at someone when she falls (even when nobody is around her).

Last Mother's Day, I woke her up at 10:40 a.m. to go out to breakfast with us, she told me to just bring her home something from the restaurant because she wanted to sleep in. ( again, she is just like her father!)

She is a good singer.

She loves to eat.

She eats A LOT. I don't know where she puts it all.

She loves to do art.

She is a bit sassy!

She is bossy. Today she told me I needed to start buying more Clementine oranges..

and she likes to exercise... WEIRD, I know...

Today she was jogging outside during the hottest part of the day... for FUN! Our dog, Miley, did one lap with her and ran for shade.

I wish I had her determination, will-power and pencil-thin legs. Especially, the pencil-thin legs!

I love her... I think I will keep her here with me forever.

The great outdoors

About 2 1/2 years ago Wes and I decided to move out of the "city". One of the reasons we had for doing this is because we wanted our kids to be able to play outside without worrying about someone taking them.

You see... I have this weird fear...I always think someone is going to take one of my children. I mean come on, have you seen them? They are so stinkin' cute so who wouldn't want them, right?

For some odd reason my kids love to play outside. They must get this from their father because I am an indoor girl myself. I can think of a hundred reasons why one should not go outside. Mosquitoes would be at the TOP of that list followed closely by bees, wasps, excessive sweating, etc...

I would try to discourage them, like any good parent would, but still they would gang up on me and beg.

So I would have to sit outside in a lawn chair and watch them ride scooters and play in our cul-de-sac. Then after like 7 minutes (ok... sometimes less) I would get hot sitting out there in the blazing sun.

Then I would think, " Michelle, you have nothing to worry about... these kids eat a lot and talk about eating even more so this make-believe-child-stealer would bring them back by the next meal!"

So I would move inside and watch them out the office window while I was surfing the Internet and reassuring myself that I was a fast runner and could get out there quickly if a car pulled up.

Not long thereafter we bought some property and started building our house in the country. I soon realized my kids didn't even know how to play outside. They would just stand on the driveway and look around. I would encourage them to play in the grass but I was always quick to remind them to look out for poison ivy, bugs, snakes, ticks, chiggers, rabid raccoons etc...

Finally, they started to venture out... a little at a time.

And now, I am happy to report they love it out here. I have even warmed up to being outside. On nice spring or fall days we sit outside on the trampoline and have school. They go hiking, play soccer, push matchbox cars in the dirt, play in the ditch, hunt for frogs, have campfires, and build forts.

The list goes on and on and on...

I knew we made the right decision to move here when my son came to me and said, "Mom, I love it here. There is always something to do and we have so much fun." Isn't he sweet? (sniffle, sniffle)

I am so thankful my children like it here. I pray this house is always a place where they feel safe, secure and loved. I hope they have many, many adventures here.

And I look forward to the day that they bring their children here to play in the trees and hunt for frogs. I know Wes and I will be sitting on the porch in our rocking chairs watching it all and remembering back to the day we decided to start this crazy adventure in the country!

I am so mistreated

My body hurts today. It really, really hurts.

Wes made me mow yards with him yesterday. 8 of them AND a clean-up. The day after I went jogging for the first time in YEARS... I needed a few days of bed rest NOT yard work!

He tricked me into it really. I was supposed to paint the bathroom but first I had to caulk the nail holes. But, conveniently Wes forgot to buy the caulk.

So he promised to stop at Home Depot AFTER he mowed.

And since I couldn't paint ~ he offered for me to go help him mow his yards~

He is really sweet like that

So I went...

I jammed my pinkie, my legs and shoulders were aching, it rained on us.

Next time, I will say NO

I didn't sign up for this

I don't care how much he begs

He can't make me

We have a stalker...

We have a stalker~ he has 2 feet, feathers and a beak...

We have a neighboring rooster that keeps coming over and trying to court our hens. Our sweet little hens that we purchased for the kids at Easter time. Well, I hate to break it to this rooster but my hens are not available for courting.

We bought these little "pets" because we want eggs. You see, we live on a "working farm" and that means if you are not human then you must work for us. Ok, don't tell the kids but when they get a little older they will have to work too! (Any good self-respecting farmer knows that the sooner you get the kids trained the sooner you get to stay in bed all day watching educational television like Jersey Shore or The Young and the Restless.)

Anyway, the hens are getting to the egg laying phase of their lives and we DO NOT want fertilized eggs so the rooster must stay off our property!

Well, Wes had a conversation with him yesterday and guess what? Now the rooster is standing in the road in front of our driveway and trying to LURE them onto his property! The nerve of this guy...

Later as I was going about my household chores, I heard the hens squawking so I went out to check on them. Low and behold there was that rooster sneaking along the side of our property along the tree line so he could make a quick escape into the trees if Wes tried to "talk" to him again. I couldn't believe it. He is a sneaky rooster. I can see we must brush up on some new scare tactics.

About 10 minutes later, I heard one of the hens clucking and making an announcement. "It must be laying an egg!", I said with excitement. As I ran to the french doors to look out I saw something round and white laying by the hen. Oh, the excitement really began to build now. We have our first egg. We are true farmers. I have to go wake up the kids so they can see this.

Before I went to wake the household, I decided to go out and investigate for myself. I ran into the laundry room and past the bathroom where my husband was... well, never mind.

I yelled, "Honey, come quick, I think we have an egg. I think one of the chickens just laid an egg!!"

As I rounded the house to the spot where the hen was sitting I see that it wasn't an egg at all. It was a white, round GOLF BALL! A GOLF BALL!!!

I just know that rooster was standing in the woods laughing at me. I KNOW he planted that golf ball.

I came inside and told Wes about it and that is when he reminded me that our hens lay brown eggs, not white eggs!

Oh yeah, gosh...this farming thing is mentally exhausting!

We have a new kitty!

I am happy to announce that we have a new kitten

Our final kitten...HOPEFULLY!

I say that with a bit of hesitation and a lot of hope.

You see... we don't have a good track record with cats.

We have always been dog people. But since we have a farm now, we have warmed to the idea of a kitten.

Every farm has a cat or 2, right?

A kitten was at the top of Andie-girl's Christmas list so we adopted 2 from a shelter.

We named them Jingle and Noel...very festive, I know! They got sick a few months later and died within a few weeks from each other.

The kids were devastated. We all cried.

We had kitty funerals and everything.

So we decided to try again... we got a free kitten that was dropped off at the vet's office. It died about a week after we got it. We didn't even get to officially name it!

So now, you understand the trepidation...

We like this kitty

We want to keep it

We want it to LIVE

We better name her...soon!

I am officially the loser!

I did something today, something out of the ordinary for me... I went jogging.

Worse yet, I let Wes time me...for fun. Ok, it really wasn't for fun, it was out of guilt. You see, I managed to skip out on last weeks big race between Wes and the kids (including Sarah, our niece from Oklahoma). I stayed at home in the a/c... where it was safe. But my kids were very disappointed when they got home and I was still in my recliner watching reality shows. Gosh, they can make you feel lazy when they want to!

So, as I promised, I went today. It was as horrible as I anticipated. First of all let me just say, it is July in Texas. It's HOT! Plus, it had just rained so now add STEAMY!

I started off at a good pace but quickly found that my lung capacity wasn't quite where it used to be. I used to be runner for goodness sake. I was on the track team all through school. I ran as an ELECTIVE in high school!!!! It was a joy of mine. What happened??????

I'll tell you what happened... 5 kids is what happened! And maybe a few nights of late night snacking... ok, a lot of nights of late night snacking but in my defense... I have children and sometimes you just have to eat to stop yourself from crying and thinking about the good-ol' days!

As I made my way up this HUGE hill my sweet 8 year-old daughter, Kennedy, was passing me and talking to me. TALKING. I looked at her with her pencil legs and flat-soled Keds tennis shoes and thought, "Where does this child get her lung capacity? Why am I seeing spots? Why can't I feel my legs anymore?"

I started thinking that I should probably just quit. After all, my children need me, who will teach them the ways of the world? I can't leave them with their father... he doesn't even feed them when I am gone!

My breathing is getting worse. I hear wheezing. Somebody help me. I think I may be dying... where is McDreamy and his CPR when I need him?

I could see my daughter at the finish line waiting for me. She wasn't even breathing heavy. I wanted to yell things at her in frustration...

Show-off!

pencil-leg- punk!

I never should have had you or your siblings!

loser!

But... I couldn't get the words to come out over my heavy breathing. Plus, that just isn't nice.

Finally, I made it... I tagged the mailbox. I was last!! It took me 16:41 to do 1.25 miles. Let's not do the math on that one. But, I was ALIVE and still standing (and not on my way to the emergency room like I anticipated 10 minutes prior).

Jake, McLaine and Andie already left to go home! They didn't even stay to cheer me on or offer me water or a twinkie.

I think they will clean the upstairs tomorrow...